Original Research Article DOI: 10.18231/2394-6776.2018.0049 Indian Journal of Forensic and Community Medicine, October-December, 2018;5(4):215-217 215 Pattern of snakebite cases evaluated at a tertiary care hospital Kashif Ali 1,* , Ishan Pathak 2 , Sheetal Sehrawat 3 1 Postgraduate, 2 Assistant Professor, 3 Undergraduate, 1,3 Dept. of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, 2 Dept. of Community Medicine, 1,3 J.N. Medical College, Belagavi, Karnataka, 2 DM-Wayanad Institute of Medical Sciences, Meppadi, Kerala, India *Corresponding Author: Kashif Ali Email: alikashif568@yahoo.in Abstract Introduction: Snakebite is a serious public health issue worldwide especially in Indian subcontinent. The high mortality in India is due to climatic factors, rural predominance of population and their agricultural dependence. It is a neglected disease that usually affects the rural inhabitants indulging in agricultural activities. All snakes are tabooed for being deadly poisonous but truth is miles away as majority of them belongs to non-poisonous category. Objective: To study the pattern of Snakebite cases evaluated at KLE Hospital of J.N. Medical College, Belagavi, Karnataka. Study Design: A retrospective hospital record based study. Materials and Methods: The study was done by analyzing the case records at Medical Record Department of J.N. Medical College, Belagavi, Karnataka for all patients admitted with Snakebite envenomation from January 2013 to December 2017. Relevant information was entered in a pre-structured proforma which include age, sex, site of bite, place of residence, occupation, season and time of bite and mortality. All the patients who came to hospital with the history of Snakebite were included in the study. Results: There was total 143 Snake bite cases among which 89 (62.2%) were males and 54 (37.8%) were females. The highest incidence of Snake bite was observed in age group of 20-29 years (29.4%). The majority of the victims belonged to rural areas 107 (74.8%) as compared to urban areas 36 (25.2%). The most vulnerable occupation group was the people involved in the agricultural activities 85 (59.4%). The maximum number of snake bite cases was reported during the rainy season (40.6%). 117 (81.8%) patients were bitten by venomous snakes as compared to 26 patients (18.2%) which were bitten by non-venomous snakes. Conclusion: Snakebite is a matter of great concern as it is one of the neglected health problems. It is a need of hour to educate the community about the prevention of snakebite, early hospitalization and first aid measures by which there will be drastic fall in snakebite cases. Keywords: Snake bite, Pattern, Snake, Rural, Anti snake venom. Introduction Snakebite is a serious public health issue worldwide especially in Indian subcontinent. In India the mortality due to venomous snake bite is 35000-50000 per annum according to WHO (World Health Organization). 1 Snake bite cases are recently included in the list of neglected tropical diseases as per WHO (World Health Organization) and it could be the most neglected of all the diseases in the 21 st century. 2 Snake bite is one of the major life threatening problems all over the world which may cause local to systemic complications in the form of neurotoxicity, haematotoxicity or myotoxicity. All snakes are tabooed for being deadly poisonous but truth is miles away as majority of them belongs to non-poisonous category. People in countries like India still prefer the traditional healers rather than trained doctors mainly because of their great belief in voodoos and due to illiteracy, ignorance and lack of knowledge. Usually poisonous snakes are nocturnal with small head scales while their belly scales are large covering the entire breadth with compressed tail and 2 long fangs. On contrary, the non-poisonous snakes have large head scales with small belly scales partially covering the breadth with comparatively less compressed tail and several small teeth. Snake venom is a toxic saliva secreted by the modified parotid salivary gland. The increased mortality and morbidity is due to the inadequate training of the primary level health workers, scarcity of anti-snake venoms, improper first aid measures, delay in transport and poor quality of healthcare services. The only specific antidote treatment available for snakebite envenomation is Anti Snake venom (ASV). The antisnake venom is classified on the basis of species covered into monovalent and polyvalent. The monovalent antisnake venom can counteract against the bite of a single species while the polyvalent antisnake venom is effective against multiple snake species. In India the available antisnake venom covers only the “Big Four” species i.e. Common Cobra, Common Krait, Russel’s viper and Saw scaled viper. The best treatment for any snakebite case is the early administration of antisnake venom which is beneficial in preventing complications as well as morbidity. The current study was conducted to assess and analyze the epidemiological profile and outcome of snakebite victims admitted to a tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods The study was done by analyzing the case records at Medical Record Department of J.N. Medical College, Belagavi, Karnataka for all the patients admitted with snakebite envenomation from January 2013 to December 2017. Relevant information was entered in a pre-structured proforma which include age, sex, site of bite, place of residence, occupation, season and time of bite and mortality. All the patients who came to hospital with the history of snakebite were included in the study.